Michael Chiklis and Jason Statham Faceoff in PARKER

The Shield's Michael Chiklis has joined the cast of Jason Statham's new action thriller Parker. Chiklis will take on the role of of the villain in the story, he will play the nemesis of Statham's character. The movie was directed by Taylor Hackford (Ray, The Devil's Advocate), and is based on the Donald E. Westlake novel series. The script was written by John J. McLaughlin (Black Swan). Chiklis will make a great bad guy in the film.

It was also reported that Jennifer Lopez is in talks to join the film production as the female lead.

Statham will play the same character that Mel Gibson played in the Brian Helgeland directed film Payback and Lee Marvin played in the John Boorman directed Point Blank. Parker is a ruthless career criminal, who has almost no traditional redeeming qualities, aside from efficiency and professionalism. He is cold, methodical, and perfectly willing to commit murder to get what he wants.

The movie is set to go into production in early August in New Orleans. It will be awesome to see Statham and Chiklis faceoff in the film.